The 11th

September 11, 2010

There’s no way I’m able to say anything that hasn’t been said before about 9/11.

I was a junior in college. Monday night, the 10th, I was up half the night playing video games with friends… drinking. When they left my apartment, I stayed up until about 4:00 a.m. playing my guitar in a drunken stupor. I thought I was going to be the next Bob Dylan. Ask me about my trip to Nashville sometime. There’s a reason why I’m a computer guy now. Anyway, it was a normal Monday night for a dumb college kid.

Tuesday morning. I got a call from one of my friends shortly after 9:00 a.m. and my first response was something like, “Dude, WTF are you calling me so early for?” And then he told me. And then time slowed. I sat by myself in my small studio apartment watching the replays of the planes hitting the towers, and watching everything else unfold. It was the first time in my young life that I actually felt mortal.

I’m 30 now, and this morning I let my wife sleep in while I fed my little girl, and ate my Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Thinking. And all I can say is that I’m so very grateful for freedom and for life.